ength that was surprising, but it
was a certainty that if Soma went over the edge the Raretongan would
keep him company.

Holman slipped down upon the Ledge, but before he could reach them a
dusty, bleeding figure stumbled through the entrance to the cavern, a
knife flashed in the sunlight, and Maru was drawn back into safety as
Soma released his grip. The newcomer was Kaipi!

"He kill Toni!" he cried. "Toni all same brother to me. Toni work with
me long time Suva."

Toni, the pupil of the Maori, who had instructed him on Levuka wharf as
to the way out of Black Fernando's hell, had been avenged at last.

It was a happy reunion we held upon the edge of the pit. Edith and
Barbara bound up the wounds of the two faithful natives, and the
muscular Raretongan was so touched with their tender ministrations that
he foraged in his tattered sulu, and with tears of gratitude in his big
brown eyes he handed back to Barbara the emerald ring with which she had
caused him to desert from Leith's service.

"Me want no pay from you!" he cried. "Me work for you all same
nothing!"

We learned that the one-eyed white man and the last of the Wizards of
the Centipede had been dispatched by Maru and Kaipi, and we also
received the news that the four carriers had bolted back to the yacht.
The latter piece of information somewhat dampened our spirits. We felt
that Leith and Newmarch were friends, and we wondered what the silent,
thin-faced captain would do when he heard the story of Black Fernando's
discomfiture.

On account of Kaipi's weak state we camped that evening on the same spot
that we had occupied on the second night upon the Isle of Tears, and at
daybreak next morning we set out for the little bay. We were all happy.
The Professor was as pleased as a boy on his vacation, and he had
returned again to his task of taking notes. The two girls were radiant;
Kaipi was joyful because the murdered Toni had been revenged, and Maru
was in the seventh heaven of delight because Barbara had informed him
that he could go to San Francisco with the party as a reward for his
devotion. As for Holman and myself, we forgot the loneliness of the
place in our joy. The same trees peered at us, the same cablelike vines
gripped our legs, and the same weird rock masses blocked our paths, but
love was in our hearts, and morbid thoughts were chased away.

On the afternoon of the second day from the pit we reached the shore of
the little bay, but _The Wa